


R e s t a r t

by RawrForRiku



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Eren, BAMF levi, Eren Yeager Has Heterochromia Iridum, Fluff, Gamer Levi, How do i tag without spoiling lol, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin) Swears, Levi Has A Sweet Tooth, M/M, Missions, POV Third Person, Pining Levi, Sassy Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Tags May Change, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 14:16:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4790363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RawrForRiku/pseuds/RawrForRiku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new, insanely popular video game has just been released called Attack On Titan. Hanji leaves no room for objections from Levi, and so he's dragged into this virtual gruesome world full of violence, death, and gore. His favorites all in one.</p><p>But when a glitch in the game brings along a sequence of strange events and a pair of unforgettable eyes, everything Levi thought he knew about gaming turns to ash and he's afraid to face the unsettling truth behind this alluring video game character named Eren.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Game

**Author's Note:**

> Levi's a gamer, Eren's a VGC (video game character), and Levi hates himself for having a crush on a fictional character.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An NPC is a Non-player character. As in, it's not really a player, it's being controlled by the system.

_**> New Game ** _

_**> Enter Username:** _

_WingsOfFreedom_

_**> Garrison, Military Police, or Scout Regiment?** _

_Scout Regiment_

_** > Skip Tutorial**_?

_Yes_

_** > S t a r t** _

 

**Loading .. .**

 

 

**-Jumhanji has joined the chat-**

 

 

**Jumhanji: Leeeeeeeviiii**

**Jumhanji: Levi**

**Jumhanji: L e v i**

**Jumhanji: LEVI LEVI LEVI LEVI**

**Jumhanji: Hurry up hurry up hurry up**

**Jumhanji: GODDD you're so slooooooow. Has the room fully loaded yet???**

**Jumhanji: Leeevviiiiiiiiiiii**

**Jumhanji: Levi?**

**Jumhanji: ...**

 

 

**WingsOfFreedom: Are you done?**

 

**Jumhanji: Nope.**

**Jumhanji: LEEEEVIII**

 

**WingsOfFreedom: Hanji. I will personally castrate you if you continue to spam the chat.**

 

**Jumhanji: Hahahahaha okay sweetie you do that**

 

**-CommanderCaterpillar has joined the chat-**

 

 

**Jumhanji: ERWIN. LEVI'S STARTED MAKING THREATS AGAIN ;-;**

 

**CommanderCatapilar: Wait what? When had they ever stopped?**

 

**Jumhanji: Truuuuuue ahahahahaha**

 

**WingsOfFreedom: Fuck off already and show me what the fuck this bullshit is.**

 

**Jumhanji: Okay okay. Let's connect the headsets first so it'll be easier to talk**

   

      One headphone was shoved in. Then the other. Levi slid the microphone closer to himself.

     "Okay, start explaining why the fuck It's so important to play this game," he sighed moodily.

      He'd already had a shitty morning when his freshly brewed tea was spilt in his lap due to a certain brunet with glasses. He was still half asleep, shuffling to the door to pick up the mail, when Hanji burst inside thrusting a game in his face. She'd yelled at him to create an account and to be online in twenty minutes, then left before he could even interrogate the insane woman.

      Now, sitting at their gaming devices, Hanji informed Levi of this new mmorpg everyone had suddenly shit a brick over called 'Attack On Titan'.

      The basic rundown he got of it was, "You're a new recruit in the military and you choose between the Garrison, the Military Police, and the Scouts. Then you join a squad or form your own. Each squad is assigned a unique leader with special abilities that help you complete quests and missions to gain xp. You can buy clothes, houses, and weapons for your avatar or you can just stick with the free shit the creators give out. And you can make actual money off the game! People pay a lot for memberships, special quests, more coins to purchase items in the shop, and stuff as such. So the top three squads in the game get paid as a reward."

      Levi slowly nodded, fiddling with the game controls to fix his avatar. He was pretty impressed with graphics so far and he hadn't even started the game yet.

     He found out from first hand experience a person could upload a picture of themselves to the server and a virtual Three-Dimensional model of them would appear on screen. Of course there were ways to adjust the height, body mass and shape, the face, hair style and color, everything really.

     He'd be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to make himself a few inches taller...

     "Seems decent so far. Are you and  Caterpillar Brows on a squad yet?" Levi asked. Hanji started cackling as if she knew something he didn't.

     "Ohh Levi," she drawled out as she calmed herself down, "You're so behind. Erwin has the best squad in the game. He's number one on the leader board!"

     "Well, shit."

       According to Hanji, the game had just come out a couple of days ago and Erwin had created an account just yesterday. _How did that giant blond manage to skyrocket to the top of the leaderboard when he'd joined less than twenty four hours ago?_

      "Wait. What about you? Do you have--" he was immediately cut off.

      "Yep. My squad is second on the leader board," Hanji chirped through the microphone.

       Levi couldn't decide if he wanted to burn the game or play it non-stop for the next several weeks until he was ahead of them both.

The latter decision won.

      Two days slowly went by, and Levi took a great deal of liking to the game. All he did was sit and play, figuring out where things were, how the game generally worked. 

     Erwin and Hanji had abandoned their squads to partner up with Levi, and some girl with the username StrawberryPixie asked to join. Her skills were exceptional so after a brief introduction, the main three approved of the new addition. Once they were all connected through their headsets, she told them her real name was Petra.

     As of now, Levi had just gotten off work, grabbed a sandwich, and slipped on his pajamas. Before plopping down to log into Attack On Titan, he scraped a can of tuna into his feline friend's bowl. It turned out his other squad members were already logged in, waiting on him.

     They set out on a mission as soon as they were situated, but Erwin noticed something was... off. After they'd formed their new squad, no "unique squad leader" had been assigned to them. Hanji and Petra shrugged it off, calling it a glitch in the game, and decided they should just go on ahead. Levi didn't know anything about the game besides the basics so he followed their lead.

      Then a small black box labeled 'New Quest' popped up in the corner of the screen.

 

 

**'A nearby city has incoming reports of a titan attack! Ride to Shinganshina, take out all of the Titans you can, and protect the civilians. Go!'**

 

      Hanji whooped, mounting her horse, along with the others, and followed behind Levi. Erwin lead the team while Petra stayed in the back to watch out for any threats to the rear.

      It took less than ten seconds for their characters to reach the battle ground. The civilians were screaming, trying to escape. Some made it out, others were eaten. Blood painted brick houses, organs and body parts decorated rooftops and the cobblestone streets.

To put it bluntly, Levi was in love with the graphics.

     Levi and his squad members ascended from their horses, their Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear tossing the four of them into the orange-red cotton sky. Hanji briefly explained how to kill the giants and what areas to avoid. He figured he'd get the hang of it within a few tries.

     "I've got these three, Petra. Assist Hanji with those five on the right," Levi ordered. He knew Erwin would be fine on his own. That man was an incredibly skilled gamer, as was Levi.

     Hanji tended to get a little too excited sometimes, however, so it took her longer to eliminate them. But, hey, at least she had enthusiasm.

    Levi swung sharply left and right and high up above the crumbling buildings, slicing every which way. He smirked to himself with satisfaction as he got the hang of the controls.

In under a minute, he and Erwin had eliminated nearly twenty titans each. Together, Hanji and Petra killed a little over thirty. The titans kept piling in, but the numbers were noticeably slowing down at least.

     They got back into formation to regroup and assess strategies for helping civilians. Things were going rather smoothly for their first mission.

     At least, they were.

    Out of no where, a titan soared through the air, its enormous jaws hanging open. It whizzed past Petra and went straight for Hanji.

     "Hanji! Drop, now!" Levi commanded using a rickety chimney to propel himself backwards.

      He zipped towards the brunet that ducked just in time to allow Levi to sail directly at the titan's face. His sword pierced right through the its eyeball. The monster let out a screech and clawed at its face just as Levi swung up to land on the top of its head. Not giving it the chance to strike back, he dove back down to its neck and let his blade slash through. Steam began to rise from the corpse.

     "Levi! To your right!" Petra shrieked. Levi barely managed to sidestep out of range of the massive hand that'd swung at him. He pounced on its shoulder and sliced through the nape of the neck with little effort.

      Stronger titans began filtering in, making it increasingly harder to keep up. It looked like the more titans they killed, the more difficult the attacks became. So then, if that was the case, wouldn't they just continue to increase in strength until the entire squad was wiped out? Levi glanced over to Erwin and the older man tipped his head, having figured out as well.

     "Hanji, Petra. Get the rest of civilians out. We'll eliminate any obstacles," Erwin ordered. 

    "Aye aye, sir!" Hanji chortled. Petra snorted and snatched the collar of Hanji's tan military jacket to drag her away.

Then the titans stopped spawning. This was their break. 

Erwin's avatar, which resembled Captain America more than himself, shot off the roof they'd stopped to rest on. Levi swung in the opposite direction, circling around his teammates, waiting for titans to appear.

    As Levi and Erwin passed by one another in mid-air, the latter spoke up. "It's been almost a minute and none have appeared... I don't understand. This hasn't happened even once since I've been on here. They normally keep on coming until the main goal of the mission is completed."

   "Maybe we completed it already?" Petra suggested. Levi shook his head even though no one could see.

    "I doubt it. They wouldn't make it that easy," he waved off her idea. His eyes narrowed on the screen. Static hummed in the background and slowly increased in volume. "Erwin? The fuck is that?"

"Is someone breathing on their microphone?"

A chorus of "no"s echoed around the group.

"Wait wait. I think it's coming from the game," Hanji said confusedly.

"Maybe it's just a-- what the heck?" Petra cried.

    Levi's television screen flashed white then went completely black, and suddenly everyone was dead silent and that incredibly annoying static began to make Levi's ears ring. A moment later, he couldn't stand it anymore and practically ripped the ear buds from his ears.

     A headache was forming in the temples of his head. He gripped his controller tighter and rubbed at it with the palm of his hand, silently cursing his brain for being so sensitive to loud noises. He was going to go crazy.

    Thankfully, before he lost his sanity, the static stopped. The black screen began to fade back to the bright colors of the game. Their avatars were now back in formation on the rooftops.

"Well," Levi muttered, slipping his ear buds back in, "That was one hell of a glitch."

    Breaths of relief and light laughter passed through the group. 

   "Alrighty then. Let's continue the mission and...," Erwin's voice trailed off then spoke back up in a rush, "Is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?"

     Levi wasn't sure if they were seeing the same thing, but he was damn sure he was seeing _something_. Hanji squealed with delight while Petra and Levi chorused an 'oh shit.'

     Beyond the enormous stone wall that was intended to keep the titans out, was lightning. A flash. Smoke. No-- steam, maybe? An enormous hand crushed the top of the wall as it pulled the rest of itself up. And a face became clear when the steam diminished.

     "Erwin. Observation?" Levi requested with wide eyes. How in the ever living shit were they supposed to defeat that?

    "An abnormal possibly. I haven't encountered one so far, only heard of them. But from what I was told, abnormals act out and attack like starved animals. This one is just ...watching," the blonde man surveyed.

Levi's eyebrows furrowed in curiosity and wonder.

    "Erwin, we still have a couple more houses with civilians inside. We'll get them out so we can be done with this mission," Petra said, earning a nod from Erwin.

     She and Hanji bounced off the roof to escort the remaining people out as the men stayed in position, swords drawn just in case. No more attacks ever came, however.

     They fulfilled their mission and it was over. The enormous titan disappeared.

But something was still off.

     After a mission, the squad was normally transported back to their headquarters. Everyone was still there, though.

     "Jesus this game is shit. There've already been two big freaky glitches and it's only been half an hour or so since we started," Levi snapped.

      He needed more tea to calm his nerves. He told the group he'd be back and muted his microphone but kept on the headset so he could hear what was happening.

     They were momentarily discussing ways to get back since their horses had ran off and clearly weren't going to return. His bare feet slapped across the wood, then the black linoleum in the kitchen.

     Everything in his house was black and white themed. It gave the place a sleek, modern feeling. Not exactly homey, but he loved it.

     When the water on the stove came to a subtle boil, he poured it into a mug and dipped the tea bag in. It was a soothing routine. Therapeutic to his mind almost.

Almost.

   "Levi! Incoming attack! I can't handle them all, they're coming from-- shit. And now I'm out," Erwin sighed in defeat, his chair squeaking under his weight as he leaned back. Levi ran back to the game, careful not to spill his tea or step on his little kitten's tail in the process. She just had to lay in the middle of the hallway.

    He snatched the controller up and began frantically dodging the hands and mouths aiming for him. Hanji and Petra were off to his right, fighting back to back.

    He launched himself in their direction to assist but immediately retreated to a chimney top as a hand slammed down on the pair. The two let out a string of curses.

     "Levi, there must be more to the mission than just escorting the civilians to safety. Try to find any clues you can," Erwin advised. Levi hummed in response, already focused on the task.

He didn't have to look far.

     Just a few rooftops over, was a titan with shoulder length brown hair. The hair wasn't what made it stand out, though. It was because it was fighting other titans. Kicking them. Punching them. Ripping their limbs off. Biting at the nape of their necks to finish them off.

     He relayed his finding to Erwin as he ducked out of range from another titan trying to make him go splat. Erwin told him it was probably just another glitch, but Levi detected the hesitancy in his voice.

     It was clear this one wasn't normal. And its eyes proved that fact even further. One was an ocean green-blue, the other as rich as an eighteen karat gold ring. The colors contrasted so greatly, it was beautiful. He wondered how a video game monster could look so frightening and alluring at the same time.

      Especially frightening because that titan was coming straight for him. Levi had gone completely blank, his fingers absentmindedly clicking random buttons. He had no time left. The mission was over. He was fucked.

     No... The titan soared over Levi's head, his arms hanging loosely by his sides. Its fist collided with another's face, and its head flew off into a nearby house. That titan had been about to kill Levi... and the other had saved him?

     "What in the fuck," he mumbled to himself. The group insistently asked what was happening, but he shushed them harshly and leaned in closer to the television. The titan turned to look down at Levi's avatar and raised a hand.

    Oh, no. He was not about to be crushed. He was determined to win.

    He sailed into the air, way above the titan's head, then spiraled down at blinding speed. His swords sliced through the wind before coming into contact with the monster's neck. The giant rocked on its feet, its eyes growing dull, before it collapsed to the ground.

    Levi rested on the rooftop for a moment, debating on whether or not it was safe to jump down. The other titans had ceased their attack. None were left.

     He threw his hesitancy out the window and hopped down as broken shingles followed his fall. Upon closer inspection, through the steam, was movement. Another civilian? Hanji and Petra had assured him they had all been taken to safety.

     But sure enough, there was a boy standing between the titan's shoulder blades, his tattered clothing covered in the titan's steaming blood. He faced Levi and saluted him. One fist rested over his heart, the other tucked behind his back. Gold and teal green eyes watched the man behind his long messy brown hair.

     "Thank you," the boy spoke with a small smile, "Your bravery is admirable, your strength astounding. Thank you, and your squad, for saving my friends. For saving all of these people. Please, accept this on my behalf." The brunet stepped forwards, pulling a cord from his pocket. A golden key dangled on the end, hovering above Levi's outstretched palm. "This key will be of use to you in the future. Now, I will guide you back to headquarters."

      "Guys, I don't know what just happened, but I think we completed the mission. This fucking kid came out of a titan's body, gave me some key, and now he's taking me back to headquarters."

"A key? Is it just a programmed character? Or a player?" Erwin asked.

     "Most definitely programmed. I haven't heard anything about a player having the ability to transform into a titan."

     "Wait, Levi, are you sure the mission was completed? I thought all of the players that died were supposed to be revived at the end," Petra said. Levi could practically hear the frown in her voice.

     "Actually, you need to restart the game to be revived. None of your data or stats will be lost, I assure you," a new voice chimed in. Everyone went deathly quiet.

      The voice sounded like the boy's... _No. Don't be stupid. That isn't possible, Levi._

      "E-Erwin... Please tell me that was you with a voice alternator on or something..." Petra whispered. Erwin could only manage a 'huh uh'. "Hanji?" she squeaked out. Hanji had the same response as Erwin.

"Who the fuck entered the chat?" Levi snapped at the intruder.

      "It's me- Eren. We just spoke a minute ago, Levi," the boy's mouth on screen moved in sync with the words being spoken over the chat. He looked so innocent and genuinely confused and ... _adorable.._.? A cold chill took over Levi's body. "Don't you remember me? I just gave you that key."

Levi tentatively zoomed in on the boy, Eren, and nodded dumbfounded.

     "Uh huh... I remember...," Levi began to reach for the power button to his game system when Erwin piped up.

"Levi, is the AI talking to you?"

      Hanji squealed with excitement, "Ooooo! This is so cool! Unless it's just some prank. Then that's lame and someone deserves to have a stick shoved up their anus."

      Levi snorted, "That's gross, Hanji. And I'm getting off of here. I think I've played enough for today."

      "Me too, actually. Talk to you guys tomorrow?" Petra rhetorically asked. We hummed in agreement and after four quick goodbyes, the chat came to an end.

     Before Levi could take his headset off, he heard Eren speak again.

     "Please don't leave... I don't wanna be alone..."

      He hesitated for a split second, those bi-colored eyes glowing in his mind, then resolutely shut off the game. The boy's sad voice still rang in his ears.

_** > Are you sure you want to shut down? You will need to restart the system the next time it is turned on ** _

_**> Yes, shut down** _

_**Goodbye** _

 

The game left the screen, but those eyes wouldn't be going anywhere.

And Levi didn't mind. Because he was already addicted.


	2. Sweet Addiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren wants a house and Levi is determined to fulfill the request, no matter the difficulties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to make it clear that this game they're playing has graphics similar to Final Fantasy's, is controlled like a mix between the Wii and a Playstation's controller, and the setting is mostly SnK's. If you have any questions about it that confuse you, please ask. I'll be happy to explain.

_ **> Welcome! You must restart your system to continue. Restart now?** _

_ _

_ **> Yes, restart.** _

 

 

**Shutting down . . .**

 

 

**Welcome!** **Loading . . .**

_ _

 

 

_ **> New Game or Continue?** _

 

Tentative fingers hovered over the controls. He drug a pool of oxygen into his lungs, despite the suffocating clench in his chest. Was it really such a good idea to come back...? Maybe he'd be gone and there was nothing to worry about.

_**> Continue:** _

          _WingsOfFreedom_

_**> S t a r t** _

 

**_Loading . . ._ **

**  
**  


     Levi took slow short sips of his tea while the game loaded to calm his nerves. That "glitch" had been so unsettling that he hadn't been back online within the past couple of days. He was hesitant to even play the other games in his collection for the fear of more bizarre occurrences.

     Today, Hanji and Erwin were too busy with work to be online. Levi was on his own. He couldn't exactly complain all that much since he'd actually been anticipating seeing those bright exotic eyes again. He wondered how the creator had managed to make the character look so... so _beautiful_.

      He could still vividly imagine the kid's tawny beige skin that made him think of the beach's sandy floors. Plus those adorable thin lips that had tugged downwards at the corners when he pleaded for Levi to stay. His pearly white teeth, his military uniform, his small nose that sloped up at the tip. To top it all off, the eye on the left that resembled honey and the eye on the right that could mercilessly drown someone with its blue-green depths.

_Fuck, I sound like a girly teenager describing their crush. Was this a crush or just attraction? The brunet was more than good looking so most likely the latter. Hah, great. The first person I'm attracted to in nearly three years is a guy. And a kid. And not even fucking real._

     "Levi!" a voice exclaimed through the headset and effectively snipped off his line of thought. The man groaned in response.

      "What now, Hanji? I thought you had work to... _Oh_ ," Levi trailed off awkwardly when his eyes caught the sight of Eren on his television screen, standing in the middle of Levi's virtual bedroom with his hands clasped behind his back, head ducked.

      Levi smoothed down his wild ebony hair to make it presentable then realized Eren couldn't even see him. He had to remind himself that Eren could only see his avatar. Then he had to remind himself for the second time in the last sixty seconds that Eren couldn't actually see anything because he wasn't fucking real.

      Levi mentally ripped out his hair and rammed his head into the wall.

_For the love of God, I'm turning into a fangirl. No no, more like a Hanji._

     The thought made him shiver and cringe.

     "Um, hi," the brunet waved stiffly. 

     "Hi," Levi greeted back, unsure of what to say or do. Luckily for Levi, he didn't have to panic over a conversation starter. Eren had that covered. He glanced up through his long eyelashes and Levi felt his heart kick start at the pain clouding the boy's bright eyes.

     "Why did you leave?" the boy whispered, eyebrows pushing together. The raven haired man sighed, trying to keep his eyes away from the kid's so he wouldn't get distracted or flustered. The smallest things seemed to be setting him off and he was beginning to feel like a pervert.

     "I had to sleep. And work," Levi answered shortly. Eren skeptically pursed his lips, his eyes wandering to his shuffling feet.

    "For that long? It felt like an eternity..."

    "It felt like?"

    "Yeah. It _felt_ like you were never gonna come back," he snapped, a tear rolling down his cheek, fists clenched at his sides. Levi was taken aback by Eren's sudden burst of anger. And, in a way, amazed.

    How was this video game character actually having a conversation with him? How did he know what time felt like? How did he know how to react with anger or sadness? How did he even have feelings? Or were the feelings just programmed? Was that even possible?

_Technology is pretty advanced now. It wouldn't be surprising._

    Levi shook his head, refocusing his attention back on the conversation.

   "Ah, well, what'd you do while I was gone?" he asked the first question to pop in his mind. By Eren's answer, he guessed it was the wrong question to ask. The boy exhaled heavily and flopped back onto the bed with an arm slung over his eyes.

    "Sat in my room. Drew a couple pictures. Waited for you to come back..." Eren admitted shyly, pawing away leftover tears. This time Levi really did slam his head into the wall. Albeit, much more gently than he'd preferred to. He didn't want to necessarily give himself a concussion. Just hard enough to knock out his inner self that was squealing over the kid's small confession and that other part of himself that felt ridiculously guilty for being the cause of his tears.

     The man pressed his lips into a thin line and all but said fuck everything. He moved his avatar forwards to stand before the brunet, knees nearly brushing one another.

     "I didn't mean to make you worry, kid. I'll let you know ahead of time if I'll be gone for long, alright?" Eren nodded and his arm gradually retracted to its side, but the frown didn't budge. Levi's features began to match the other's expression. "Hey, come on," he called out softly to grab his attention. It worked. When their eyes met, Levi's avatar pulled Eren upright and crouched down between his long limbs to gain his full attention. "I'm here now, Eren. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always come back. Okay?" 

     Levi's chest warmed at the small smile Eren gave him. "Okay," Eren paused tentatively and chewed at the corner of his lips, "Y'know, we should go on more missions for money so you can buy an actual house. And, um, maybe I can house sit while you're gone?" he suggested with a tentative smile. Levi's eyebrows raised in surprise.

     "You want to buy a house?"

     "Kind of, if it's not too much troub--"

     "Okay," Levi interrupted with a shrug even though Eren couldn't see it. Without a moment of hesitation, he equipped his uniform and weapons and searched the assignments for a new mission. Eren didn't move for a brief minute, just stood there frozen with his jaw hanging, watching the man on the screen prepare for the battle. "Well? Are you going to get ready or do I need to dress you?"

     "Shut up! I can dress myself, thank you very fucking much." The boy turned away and marched out of the room to hide the furious blush engulfing his cheeks, but it was too late. Levi had caught it and smirked at the sight.

      He didn't even care anymore that he was practically ~~flirting~~ talking with his television. He finally felt like he could let his guard down around someone and it was the most relieving feeling. Like a breath of fresh air after inhaling nothing but a stale room full of dust for hours on end. And he absolutely fucking loved it.

      By the time Levi found a mission that would pay enough for him to buy any house he wanted, Eren had changed into his uniform and was ready to head out. They took a few extra minutes to check out some more assignments they could complete to pay for furniture and clothes. One was a rescue mission, another was to grab intel on a new type of titan that'd been discovered, and the third they chose was an extermination job. For that one, they just needed to eliminate one hundred titans. So fifty titans each.

    Levi knew this would be a breeze.

    He was just a little nervous about the first mission. The one that paid big. The assignment was to plug the hole in Wall Maria.

    Suddenly a pair of arms were wrapped around his shoulders, but unfortunately for Levi, just as quick as they'd appeared, they were falling back down to Eren's sides. Levi's eyes bulged, the corner of his lips curling into a smile. He pulled his knees to his chest in an attempt to smother the violent swarm of butterflies.

     His attempt was proven useless when Eren innocently clasped his hands behind his back, a blush adorning his cheeks, and the boy whispered, "Thank you, Levi."

     The man was full out grinning now.

     "No problem, Chestnut," Levi said and made sure to keep his voice as level as possible. Eren snorted with a wide smile.

     "Chestnut?"

     "Shut up and get your ass outside, Eren."

 

* * *

 

 

 

    "Don't you think we should find a temporary squad for this?" Eren grunted as he landed a blow on a fifteen meter titan. The steaming corpse collapsed to the ground, causing the earth around them to rumble.

    "No, we only have a little more ways to go. We'll keep pushing forward to get you to that rock and after that, we'll practically be home free," Levi assured him. They'd ventured out on their own due to Levi's

pickiness over who he worked on a team with. That, and he wanted to be alone with Eren.

     It took less time than they'd originally thought it'd take, and within a minute, they'd reached their checkpoint. Now Eren just needed to shift into his titan form to plug the hole, and they would be able to buy their house.

     But something was wrong. 

     The pair landed gracefully on a rooftop beside the boulder and just as Eren brought his knuckles to his lips, he hesitated. His eyes looked as though they'd taken him captive, inside another place or dimension. Like he was lost. Levi zoomed in the slightest bit and searched the boy's face with worry.

     "Eren, what's wrong?" The brunet's eyes returned to their original bright multi-colored orbs as they focused on the shorter man standing before him. He shook his head with a nonchlant shrug and resumed to drawing blood.

      Levi's worry diminished while he jumped back just in time to avoid the scorching steam. It rolled into the orange skies in thick tendrils. That feeling that something was off still lingered in the pit of Levi's gut, and that feeling kept his guard up higher than normal. It proved to be of use when the screen glitched, static filling his ears. It passed after a couple of seconds, but once the smoke was almost cleared out, a giant fist shot out in his direction. Levi cursed and dove off the rooftop as the house crumpled into ruins. 

      "What the fuck are you doing?" he shouted at the fifteen-meter tall Eren. Instead of recieving a verbal response, the titan's fist sailed through the air, coming straight at the man. He didn't dodge it this time. He used his 3DMG to swing up just high enough to land on the back of his hand and propelled himself onward to latch onto Eren's long brown locks. To keep himself standing, one foot settled on bridge of his nose while the other rested against his tan cheek. He tried not to pay attention to the putrid smell of his breath. He shook his head and rhetorically asked, "What's wrong with you, kid?" 

       Levi leaned in closer to the television when he spotted something odd in the boy's large eyes.

       In the green one, there was no spark like there normally was. No fire, no light. Just dull, distant, and cold. 

       But the gold gleamed with a fiery hatred. Levi's eyebrows knitted together, a scowl dominating his expression.

       This wasn't the Eren he knew. That glitch had done something to him. And he'd be damned if he was going to let the brunet go without a fight.

       "Eren, come on," he shouted and made his avatar wave its hand to grab his attention, "Wake up, kid! You've gotta come back to me."

       That didn't help.

       The fist from earlier swung at him once again, but Levi jumped away to land on a rooftop. The giant fell back on its ass when the hand connected with its face. How was he supposed to help the kid? Or was this part of the mission and it was meant for the squad to complete it on their own without the help of their leader?

        No. Even though Eren was just a shit ton of pixels pieced together, there was something special about him that made him come across as almost human. He had feelings, emotions, and thoughts just like any other person would. And Levi couldn't ignore that. 

        Eren didn't give the impression of being the type to respond positively to brute force so Levi aimed at the next weak spot. His emotions.

        This would be more than a challenge for them both.

        Levi cautiously hopped onto the house behind Eren's head and paused briefly to think of what to say. He knew very little about the kid.

        "Eren, it's me. Levi," he started off awkwardly, "I hope you can hear me, because fuck knows I'll never say any of this shit to anyone else" --a quick deep inhale-- "Look, kid. I need you here with me. We only met a couple days ago and I already feel like I can be open with you and I can't just let you go like this. I know you're still here somewhere. You need to fight whatever it is that's controlling your avatar. I'll help you in anyway I can, kid. Just," he glowered at his floor and tucked his knees in closer to his chest, "Just, please, don't leave, Eren... My brother and sister are gone because of me. And now that I feel like I have something worth fighting for... Christ. I need you, Eren. I can't fucking lose you too, goddamn it." He could only manage the last of his speech in a choked whisper. After years of packing those tears and guilt into a bottle, it was filling up to the brim, so close to overflowing.

         But the brunet seemed to have his way of soothing the man's jagged heart.

          "I'm here. I'm so sorry. I'm here, Levi," that deep voice Levi knew oh so well spoke. Levi looked up with blurry eyes to see Eren had returned to normal, the only remnants being the smoke and what was left of the titan's skeleton. Eren's sun kissed arms were wrapped around his avatar's shoulders and even though they were in two different dimensions, Levi could feel that comforting warmth seep into his chest.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

        After nearly two hours, the pair resumed their assignment and Eren gave the shifting another go. That time around, they had no difficulties whatsoever and managed to fulfill the mission in a timely manner. 

        Eren suggested they do a couple of smaller missions rather than three more difficult ones. Somehow he knew Levi was tired, and the man most certainly wasn't about to complain. He was secretly grateful that someone was looking out for him. So as they finished their third assignment for the day, he made a mental note to do the same for Eren. And since he just wanted to see the brunet happy, he allowed the kid to pick out their house.

        "Do you think a two story house would be too big?" Eren asked as they strolled through the maze of neighborhoods. Levi shrugged in response, forgetting for the umpteenth time that day that he couldn't see him.

        "I don't know. Just pick whatever you like, Chestnut."

        Eren rolled his eyes at the nickname. Then an idea struck him and his face lit up as bright as a child's whenever they got icecream and candy. 

        "I know what to get! Come on!" he exclaimed, snatching the man's hand to tug him along.

         Levi was getting ridiculously jealous of his avatar...

         He followed along without saying a word until they got to their destination. Eren had led him all the way through a forest of big ass trees, over a creek where they had to skip across the rocks, and finally they scaled the steep incline of a hill. It was all worth it. On the other side of that luscious green hill, was an old castle. The structure was still in good shape, but the land was over grown and the grass had attempted to eat the iron gates surrounding the property. Vines with blooming blue flowers crept up the sides of the stone walls. A large murky pond with a decaying boat sitting on a dock was located off to the side of the land. 

        Levi was speechless, unlike the brunet.

         "I found this place while I was searching for you. I know it's run down and all, but it's so beautiful. I kind of fell in love with it," he spoke softly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Levi shook his head and Eren cut him off before he could speak, "I understand if you don't want to get it. It'd be a lot of work and I know you're busy so--"

         "Eren," the man spoke loud enough to catch his attention then toned down his voice a couple notches. "It's perfect," he admired, "It most definitely will require a lot of cleaning, but it'll be worth it."  _To see you smile._

         Eren's eyes glistened in the last orange and pink rays of sunlight and the man recieved his third hug for the day. He was quickly learning that the kid liked human contact. Or maybe it was just Levi he liked having skin to skin contact with. Then again, maybe that was wishful thinking.

           As soon as he bought the castle, Eren transformed into a titan and began picking off weeds from the wall that intertwined with the blue flowers. After inspecting the foyer, Levi climbed the stairs and found a feather duster in the hallway's closet. He stepped into one of the bedrooms and nearly dropped his controller at the amount of cobwebs and dust. Oh fuck no.

          He slammed open the window and looked around till he found what he was looking for.

         "Hey, Eren," he called out. The giant glimpsed down in his direction and dropped the weed he'd picked off the wall. "This shit's way too dirty for just the two of us to clean. For now, we'll work on the outside. Give me a boost."

          Eren cocked his head but obeyed, nonetheless, and stuck out his outstretched palm. The man leaped from the window into his hand and directed him with a point of his finger where he needed to go. Eren raised him to the top of the castle and Levi hopped off.

          "I'll clean up here while you clear out the weeds. When we're done, we'll call it a day. That clear?" The titan boy nodded his head and held out a curled up fist a couple feet away from Levi. "A fist bump?" He nodded again. "You're so lame," Levi rolled his eyes with a small smile and bumped fists with the boy anyways. The kid couldn't smile with the way his mouth was structured, but Levi could see the mirth in his stunning eyes.

           And that's all he wished to see. It was his sweet addiction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think so far? ^^
> 
> Also, I apologize for any grammatical errors. I finally got a laptop and its so much easier to write now. But I don't have autocorrect anymore so things slip past me when I'm writing.


	3. Paused

**_ > Welcome! You must restart your system to [continue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4790363/chapters/11085605#). Restart now? _ **

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**_ > Yes, restart. _ **

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**_ Shutting down . . . _ **

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**_ Welcome!  Loading . . . _ **

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**_ > New Game or Continue? _ **

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**_ > Continue: _ **

_WingsOfFreedom_

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_ **> S t a r t** _

**Loading . . .**

 

 

**-Jumhanji has joined the chat-**

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“LEVI!” Hanji’s voice screeched through his headphones. He exhaled heavily, not ready for the woman’s extroverted personality this early in the morning. A small grunt emitted from his throat as a response. “Levi! It’s been over a week since we’ve talked. Is there something you wanna tell me?”

It took Levi a tad bit longer to respond this time since he checked his phone to see if it’d really been a week since Hanji had brought over that stupid game that consumed the majority of his time. And indeed it had been a week. And a few days.

Each day he’d woken up, went to work, and came home to play Attack On Titan. When was the last time he’d eaten?

Oh well, he’d eat later.

“No. Now hang up the chat,” he griped, tuning the volume to a lower level. Why did she have to be so loud?

“Oh, Levi, dear. You know I would never. Especially when Erwin is joining us in a couple minutes! We’re getting everyone together to go on a mission since it’s been so long. Work is getting brutal. But it’s actually really great because--” and at that moment, Levi chose to zone out her rant about her biology talk. The woman went nuts over the mention of dissections or experiments.

Levi wasn’t sure if he found it disconcerting or intriguing. Maybe a mixture of the two.

“Levi, oh Levi, why aren’t you listening to mee?” she sang as loud as possible. Levi cringed and muted his speakers.

“ _Hanji_. If you don’t fucking--” An obnoxious ding interrupted him.

**  
  
  
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**-CommanderCaterpillar has joined the chat-**

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“Erwin, he’s doing it again!” Hanji cried as his speakers were automatically unmuted. He really needed to fix that.

Levi planted his forehead on the wooden bedpost with a sigh.

“Doing what? Cleaning incessantly? Swearing like the son of Satan? Or trying to ignore our calls?” Erwin said the last part pointedly. Levi huffed at the pair.

“I get it, you guys were worried. I’m perfectly fucking fine. I was just busy...” _Spending all your time with Eren_ , the little voice in his head added. He instantly shooed the thought away, but had to admit he was still eager as ever to team up with the boy.

Every night they’d departed, he’d promised to be back the next day. And he was going to keep that promise even if he had to put up with Hanji’s shit.

“You were so busy that you couldn’t press the answer button on your phone? Or at least shoot us a message saying ‘I’m busy, go away’?” Levi could practically hear the woman crossing her arms over chest with that scolding tone in her voice.

“Yes. And even if I’d had time to message you, I wouldn’t have. We all know once you start talking, you can’t stop,” Levi deadpanned. Hanji cackled into the microphone.

“But that’s one of my best qualities, my little midget!”

“ _Hanji_ ,” the man warningly growled.

“Okay,” Erwin drawled out loud enough to gather their attention, “Let’s get started. Petra is waiting on us at the field. Her microphone and speakers aren’t working so we’ll have to communicate through the chat box.”

“Hey, we should use video chat this time since it’s just the three of us!”

“Fuck no.”

“But Leeeviiii! We miss your adorable frown,” she whined. Levi’s face warmed, his eyes narrowing on the screen.

“It’s not adorable. And I don’t ‘frown,’ shit specs,” the man grumbled indignantly, “Now shut up and focus on the game.”

When the trio’s avatars loaded, they popped up in the middle of Headquarters, and without missing a beat, sprinted outside to the stables. Each mounted their horse accordingly, but only Hanji and Erwin moved onwards. Levi sat in his spot, spinning the analog stick around to look around. Eren still hadn’t shown up…

“Levi, hurry up! We don’t have all night,” the brunette woman ushered. As his horse finally galloped to catch up to the others, the man was grateful she couldn’t see his eyeroll or he’d-- “Stop rolling your eyes, short stuff.” He stared at the television screen in disbelief.

“Levi, how’s your agility, strength, health, and energy?” the blonde put an end to their banter with a serious tone.

“Agility level is ninety-seven, strength level ninety-four. Full health and energy.”

Erwin hummed in thought, “If Hanji can raise her thieving level up one more to eighty-one, we could very likely pull this off. Petra will have to be watchdog, though…”

“Oi, what’re you on about?”

“There’s a rumor spreading like wildfire across the forums. They’re saying someone found a hidden tunnel that leads to an underground passage, but no one can get past the guards posted on the spot. The level requirements are insanely high,” he paused for dramatic effect, “But we surpass those requirements. Well, besides the thieving. Since Hanji is one level away, she’ll be filling that role.”

“Got it, Commander!” Hanji chirped, steering her avatar off in the direction of a nearby city.

“Levi and I will go on ahead to join up with Petra. Hurry back, Hanj.”

She gave him an ‘okay’ and told them she was going to mute the speakers so she could focus. The trip to their destination was filled with small talk and possible strategies for whatever sort of mission that required such high-ranking levels.

Upon arrival at the field, Levi took notice that there was a tall figure idly standing beside a smaller one. From far off, the figures were blurred. However, as they closed the distance between them, Levi equipped the gun that he carried around for emergencies.

“In five,” Erwin ordered. Levi took aim at the taller one while his horse continued to fly straight at the couple.

Five.

Four.

Three. He positioned his pointer finger over the button of the trigger.

Two.

One.

Gun fire pelted down on the two like a rainstorm from four different sides, and in an instant they were dropping to the ground, cursing at their group down in the server chat. Their corpses lingered around until Levi jumped off his horse and struck them both in the chest. The players melted and gradually seeped into the ground.

Erwin came to stand beside him, arms crossed over his chest. “Spies?”

“Yeah. There could be more,” the shorter man answered, then turned his avatar to face the towering, thick line of trees. “Get your asses out here. We need to withdraw, kiddos.”

A groan erupted in his headphones and a wild Eren appeared right after. He marched his way up the waves of grass, gun still in hand. Petra emerged from the opposite side but more cautious and watchful than the brunet.

“Why are we withdrawing? We could’ve taken them out!” he whined. Levi rolled his eyes, ready to retort, when Erwin cut in.

“It’s an unnecessary fight and a waste of energy. We’re taking on a highly ranked mission so we need to preserve our levels.”

Eren pouted but complained no more. Instead, he swiveled around to hop onto Levi’s back. The man shot the boy a dirty look, not caring he couldn’t really see it.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“Piggy back ride,” he grinned down at his avatar, “He said we need to preserve our energy so I’m following orders.” Levi scoffed and pressed the ‘O’ button to drop the brunet.

“And you’re wasting mine in the process. Such a great idea.”

As the two bickered friendly, they didn’t notice how silent Erwin and Petra had gone. They were in a separate private chat, observing Eren’s ability to communicate and how Levi seemed to be more... sociable with him around.

“Guys guys guys! I finished! We can go now,” Hanji exclaimed. Erwin relayed the message to Petra via text chat.

“Let’s move out then,” the tall blonde urged. Everyone bestrode their horse, the only one having difficulties settling in the saddle being Hanji. She complained about her controller having mixed wires, but Levi just wrote it off as bullshit.

Along the ride, Levi filled Eren in on where they were headed and why, and the brunet couldn’t hide his exhilaration to finally go on a mission. Since the day they’d bought their castle, they hadn’t been on anymore assignments. Too busy cleaning and rearranging. At least the castle was spotless.

 

Their group, for the most part, was silent. Only Eren and Levi made small talk; Levi throwing teasing insults at the brunet, while the latter bumped his horse into the man’s. After nearly being flung off his horse, Levi was glad that Erwin decided to interject, or else the brunet would’ve ended up as target practice.

“I need to talk to you, Levi. Open up a private chat.”

The raven haired man cocked an eyebrow, but nevertheless, did as he was requested. They simultaneously muted the other chat Hanji was in and the blonde got straight to the point.

“Is Eren a player?”

Levi shook his head, frowning. “No. He’s just an NPC with some incredible artificial intelligence. Whoever made this game must have a lot of time on their hands to be able to pour so much coding into it. They’re also probably wealthy as shit to have all the technology needed.”

Erwin whistled, clearly impressed. “Have you seen any other NPC’s like him in the game?”

“Nope. Most of the time I’ve spent on here, I’ve been on offline mode to avoid spies or any shitty rogues wanting to kill other players.”

“Understandable,” the blonde agreed. “Was Eren with you then, too?”

Levi tentatively gave him an affirmative hum. “Where are you going with this?”

“No where, I was just curious is all.”

The raven pursed his lips at the screen and shot the older man an ‘Okay’ before closing the chat.

Upon coming back to the task at hand, Levi registered that they’d already stopped at their destination. He descended his horse then strolled over to stand beside the brunet boy. The younger’s colorful eyes bounced back and forth between the copper and gold leaf coated pathway to the man’s side profile.

Levi felt the urge to zoom in on the brunet and it was a temptation that was simply too strong to ignore. He wanted to imagine Eren was there with him and not just in the game. Wanted to imagine how his skin would feel. How his voice would really sound. How his heartbeat would pick up when-- Wow, when had Levi become such a love sap fool?

One of the corners of Levi’s lips quirked up in a half smile while he scooted back on his bed to make himself more comfortable. Love sap fool or not, Levi couldn’t deny his inner fangirl. Especially when those damned eyes were so intoxicating.

“Levi,” the owner of the eyes drawled out, “Come back to Earth.” The man’s cheeks warmed when he realized he’d been caught zoning out. He needed to stop that.

“What?” he snapped with no malice in his tone.

“We’re here,” Erwin pointed out. They’d traveled through a thin lightly lit forest, had crossed a river, and had made it over an enormous wall. How Levi managed to zone out through all that would remain a mystery to him.

They reached the gates’ guards after making it through a short dainty tunnel. Once their levels were accepted, the towering wooden doors behind the guards parted way for them. Hanji whooped in excitement while the rest of us kept quiet, fingers at the ready in case of an ambush or some sort of battle.

But nothing happened.

The longer they walked, more and more houses began to appear. Then they passed through one final tunnel and a whole new world opened up before them.   
  
It wasn’t by any means beautiful. It was dark. The only sunlight seeping in through the occasional hole in the ceiling. The ground. Whatever it was considered.

Surrounding them were thousands of houses. It looked almost like a village. But there were sick civilians everywhere. Some lying on the streets, in alleyways, on rooftops. There was no blood, but there were decaying bodies.

Disgusting.

Levi’s eyebrows furrowed as their group passed by a few obnoxious merchants, packing up medicine and supplies. There were distinguishably hushed voices nearby. They almost sounded familiar to him. He tuned his focus in on the echoing conversation.

“For the last time, Izzy, we can’t afford to buy anything,” a deep impatient voice sighed, “We have to steal; there’s just no other way.” Levi’s finger slid off the analog stick so his avatar stood still.

_No… no, that’s not right. He’s dead._

__

“But I’m tired of stealing. I’m tired of living like this. I just want to feel free for once,” a feminine voice fretted quietly.

_But ... but she's dead too..._

__

Levi hesitantly shifted the view to the right where an alley was, and it felt like the wind had been sucker-punched out of him.

 **  
**“I-Isabel…? Farlan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave it like this ahah. I have an essay due tonight and I haven't started whoops. Enjoy the sort-of cliffhanger? ^^ 
> 
> The shit storm is about to start rolling in already. Prepare for the shitnado.


	4. Press Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 2:30AM and I've finally finished this. And it's only like 3k words. Whywhywhywhywhy? I ran over my tablet with my car (by accident- don't ask, still too painful of a memory) so I can't type as fast as I used to :/ BUT I'm pleased with what I have so far.
> 
> PS, I have no idea why the paragrphs are so spaced out. Google docs is just crap I guess.

. . .  
  
  
  


“Levi, what are… oh my g--” Hanji was cut off from his anger.

“What the fuck kind of shit prank is this?” Levi shouted at the screen, shoving himself back to the other side of the bed, ready to book his ass out of that room.

How? How were his brother and sister standing _right there_ , when he’d been told three years ago they were _dead_? Had they lied to him? Why would they do that? They were clearly in perfect health.

 

But… what if… what if those two weren’t really his siblings? Perhaps they were merely AI’s. But who in their right fucking mind would create NPC characters based off _real_ deceased people?

...And what if Eren was one of those NPC’s?

“Levi? What’s wrong?” one of his friends asked curiously when Levi went quiet. Their tone turned to one of uncertain and teasing, “Not scared, are ya?”

He could’ve laughed.

Oh, no. Levi wasn’t scared.

He was paralyzed with grief. Outraged.

Heartbroken all over again.

Torn up so much that he felt raw. Exposed to his core. Weak.

_Just who the fuck are they?_

__

“Um, hey. How about we go back to the castle for now,” that sweet voice Levi finally managed to pinpointed as Eren’s chimed softly through his speakers. Still in a daze, Levi absentmindedly shook his head and gripped the controller tighter to bring himself back to reality.

“No. This is stupid. They’re just characters in a game. We have a mission to complete,” he said more to himself than the brunet. His friends weren’t putting up with his stubborn side today, though.

“Levi, you need to take a break. Go make some tea,” Erwin advised as his team backtracked to stand by the shorter man. Any protest he had died in his throat when he received a video chat request from Hanji.

“Is there some reason you can’t just speak to me without having to see my damned face, four eyes?” Levi asked with an eyeroll. Much to his annoyance, he’d heard it was more than difficult to connect the video cameras to this video game so they hadn’t even bothered to try.

“Yes. Just accept it, Levi,” the brunet answered impatiently. Her petulance irked him to no end, but he reluctantly accepted the chat invite anyways. After a few moments of nothing but the sound of clicking keys, Hanji’s face popped up on the right half of his screen.

“Alright. Give me a second to--”

“Holy _shit_ ,” Eren gawked, staring off into seemingly nowhere. The man paused in his movements to return his attention back to the brunet boy.

“What?”

The boy shook his head, still staring up at the sky, “Uhh...”

Levi exhaled deeply, deciding to ignore whatever shit the brunet was going on about and worked on plugging up the webcam to the television. It took a few attempts to get the settings altered, but once everything was set up correctly, he crossed his arms over his chest to glare at the woman, his own face appearing in the corner of the television screen.

“Okay. Now what is it?” he demanded. Her solemn gaze fell to the ground.

“I’m sorry, Levi. I was hoping this game would help you move on.”

“What? What do you mean?” he paused for the woman’s answer but didn’t get one. He wasn’t liking where this was going. “...Hanji, why did you really want me to play this game?”

The brunet woman exhaled slowly and brought herself to look the man in the eye.

“When I heard about the game, I thought it sounded like something you’d really enjoy since you love gore and violence and all that kind of stuff,” she paused to glimpse at the ground, “Then I watched some previews on Youtube, one of them based in the Underground Passage. And I saw them in here. I just thought maybe we could talk to them and figure out why--”

“That’s not gonna happen, Hanji.”

“And why not? Don’t you think you have the right to--”

“They’re fake. Those aren’t real players, you halfwit, they’re fucking NPC’s!” he was all but yelling. His chest was clenched painfully tight, tears welling up in his eyes. He finished in a whisper, “None of them are real.”

And after those words, his brother’s and sister’s imposters abandoned the scene. Abandoned Levi all over again.

His blurry eyes rose back up to the television to meet the green and gold gaze on the other side of the screen. Hanji was about to argue when Eren spoke up.

“Levi?” the boy breathed in shock.

“What?”

“What is that?” His eyes flickered back and forth between the man’s avatar and Levi’s eyes.

“What the flying fuck are you talking about?” he snapped, clawing at his eyes and wishing the kid would spit out words that made sense. He hadn’t meant to snap at him, but he felt drained. He was ready to snag a book and lie down.

But that just seemed to be impossible for him.

“In the sky I mean,” Eren clarified, “Don’t you see it?” Levi scanned the sky for whatever Eren was looking at and found nothing other than clouds and birds.

“Those white fluffy things are called clouds, Eren.”

The brunet shot his avatar a no-shit-Sherlock look and shook his head, his eyes returning to searching the sky.

“The fuck?” Eren muttered to himself then continued on with a narrowed gaze, “It looks like you,” he pointed a finger at Levi’s avatar, “But… But it isn’t you? This doesn’t make any sense!” He threaded his fingers in his hair, pulling it hard enough to make himself wince.

Levi sighed heavily while Hanji sucked in a sharp breath.

“Eren! Look over here!” she half whispered, half yelled. Pushing his hysterics aside, the brunet obeyed, raising an eyebrow, and stared curiously at Hanji’s character.

“What is it?” Eren asked.

Levi was silently questioning what Hanji was up to, but didn’t verbalize any of them. He was glad he didn’t or he would’ve missed Eren’s rapid glimpse to the sky. Hanji’s manic grin grew three times its normal size and even Levi leaned away from the screen, it was just that unsettling.

“I don’t like that look, shitty glasses. What--”

“Eren! What am I doing right now?” she screeched, wiggling around. Eren took a step back, his eyes repeating their darting motions from earlier.

“Um, standing?” he answered and grabbed onto the brunette’s military uniform, “Tell me something, Hanji. Please, please tell me you see it too... Oh, fuck,what if it’s all in my head? I’m going crazy, aren’t I?” His exotic eyes widened as they stared blankly at the ground.

Hanji cackled and clasped her hands to her chest. Levi and the others had no idea to respond to what was happening so they kept quiet and let Hanji have her… moment.

Eren’s eyes raised to the sky again and Levi watched as Hanji waved at her camera. Levi cocked an eyebrow, but gave a half-assed wave back just to amuse her.

But Eren lifted his arm at the same time as Levi did and returned Hanji’s gesture. The crazy woman squealed and bounced in her seat.

“You can see us!” she screeched, jabbing a finger at her screen. Eren’s eyes followed the movement of her squirming form and Levi’s jaw was none too discreetly hitting the floor.

“W-who are you people?” Eren stammered, rapidly putting distance between himself and their squad, swords hoisted at the ready by his sides.

“Eren?” Levi whispered. Eren side glanced at the man, their gazes intertwining, and something in the boy’s eyes softened.

“Are you… you’re... really Levi?” The man nodded and Eren’s swords lowered a tad. He squinted his eyes at the man for guidance. “I don’t understand. Am I seeing some alternative universe?” Levi looked from the left side of his screen to the right side, signaling for Hanji to help provide some form of explanation.

“I suppose you could call it that?” she cocked her head in thought, “It’s more like... Well, to put it simply, we’re made up of cells, and you’re made of  intricate coding and pixels.”

The brunet slowly nodded, unseeingly gazing at the space amidst him and his team.

“What is this ‘coding’ thing you mentioned?”

Levi couldn’t stop himself from facepalming. He gave Hanji a flat look.

“Are we sure he’s an AI? ‘Cause I’m not seeing the intelligence.”

“Levi, don’t be so rude,” she scolded, “He’s amazing!” --a blush rose on the boy’s cheeks-- “I’m so fascinated with this game. It’s so stunning and I bet all the matrices needed to make this were killer to formulate and oh my god, just imagining all the kinds of hardware were used and how much time was dedicated to it! Guys guys, holy shit, I think I’m in love- help me- I’m gonna--”

“Hanji, calm down. Levi, go get your tea before you murder something,” Erwin advised, linking his own webcam to the chat. Eren’s eyebrows rose at the handsome newcomer, his stance fully relaxed now. “Eren, tell us how we appear to you.” Levi rolled his eyes and left his bedroom to brew a pot of tea as the brunet relayed what he saw to the blonde. His headphones hung around his neck so he could still listen.

“Well, you’re blonde. You look pretty muscular. Er, your username fits you?”

Levi snorted into the small glass of milk he’d poured and made a note to himself to give Eren a virtual pat on the back later.

“I meant, how are we showing up in the game,” Erwin tried his best to clarify. The line was silent for almost a minute before he answered at a slow pace.

“I think I understand what you’re asking. They just look like boxes with the edges blurred. And each of you are inside them. Well, except Levi. Where’d he go?”

“I’m in my kitchen. And still listening.”

“Oh. How are-- Shitshitshit!”

“Levi! Tea break is over, get back on before you die,” Hanji hollered as if they were in different parts of the same house, when in reality, she was over thirty miles away (thank god).

He fretted over the decision of leaving his tea to save his avatar or leaving his avatar to save his tea. The struggle was too real.

“Take your time, Levi. I’ve got you covered,” Eren assured with a grunt, the sound of crumbling houses echoing through headphones.

Instead of bothering to reply, he rushed to grab his mug and tea bag then sped back to his quarters. He plopped down inside the nest of sheets curled up on his bed and raised the mug to his lips for a quick sip as he surveyed the situation.

The first thing he noticed was his avatar had been moved to sit behind a chimney for cover. The second thing was his teammates taking on four or more titans each. Erwin was shooting from rooftop to rooftop, taking each one down with ease. Petra and Hanji were struggling a bit more, but they were doing pretty well to hold their own against the titans.

And lastly, Eren was on the ground. Defenseless. Cornered by two titans.

_Where the fuck are his swords?_

__

The raven sat down his tea in exchange for the controller. He was not about to let his precious chestnut be devoured. Levi dove off the roof, blades drawn, and severed the fat meaty hand reaching for the boy. Eren let out a sigh of relief as his savior landed in front of him.

“Tch. I can’t leave you alone for more than five minutes,” the older tsked. “Why didn’t you transform?”

“My energy is too low. If I had transformed, I would’ve drained what’s left of it.”

“How the hell did you manage to waste so much of it already?” he asked incredulously and shot into the air, going in for his first kill of the day.

The kid’s shoulders and palms raised in response. “I don’t know! It shouldn’t have exhausted so quickly; I’ve hardly even been fighting.”

“Oh that’s a load of crap,” Hanji chimed in while her sword pierced a titan’s eye, “For those couple of minutes you were gone, he did nothing but carry your avatar around like a princess and fended off attacks from three eight-meter titans.”

Eren shot the woman a betrayed look and squeaked, “Hanji!”

Before the crazy woman could continue her pestering, Levi fired his grappling hooks, soared past her, and spun back around at full speed, his blades whirling like a turbine. A chunk of the monster’s neck plunged into the building beside Eren, and as the corpse fell, he made a break for the alleyway.

“Cover my back, I’m gonna recover my gear.” Levi did as Eren requested but took out one last monster. He followed close behind the brunet, surveying the area for any signs of another attack. They made it halfway down the alley when Eren abruptly stopped and frantically searched the ground. But it appeared to be gear-free. “What the…? I swear it landed over here when I fell…”

The pair scrounged through the murky alley, tipping over trash bags and trash cans, but came up empty handed.

“I don’t give a shit if this is just virtual trash, that’s disgusting,” Levi hissed when he spotted a tray of nachos and cheese seasoned with crushed up rat guts. Apparently either a titan had strolled through or someone thought it would be a nice addition to the game.

At any rate, it was nauseating. Especially since he’d been craving nachos for the past couple of days.

Well, not anymore.

“Levi! I found it!” Eren cheered and disappeared around the brick corner at the end of the pathway. The man caught up a second later but wished he hadn’t as soon as he reached the other side. “I need this to fight, dammit, let go!”

“No! I’ve seen what you guys can do with these- how fucking happy you all are, being able to fly freely. You don’t understand what it’s like to live down here for so long! I’m not giving up this opportunity, even if it means I’ll be the Survey Corps’ target.”

Levi stood back as he watched Eren and his sister have a tug-of-war competition over the maneuver gear in a dead end alley. He wasn’t going to interfere with that battle. Nor with _her_.

“Wait, no! Stop!” Eren shouted as she broke free of his grasp and dashed in the direction of Levi.”Grab her!” She came closer. And closer. Too close. Too. Fucking. Close. He held his breath, his fingers sliding off the analog stick and controls.

He could step in front of her. He could shoot at her. He could do something.

But he didn’t. She brushed past his avatar, gear clutched tightly to her chest like it was her lifeline.

“What the fuck, Levi?” the brunet shouted as he chased after her. “You could’ve stopped her!”

Levi kept his head bowed, eyes trained on the ground. “No. I couldn’t have.”

“Wha…,” Eren gaped at him angrily, “She ran right past you! You could’ve--”

“There was nothing I could do, because she’s a part of the mission, asshat,” he spat bitterly. “She’s why we needed such a high stealth level.”

“But how do you know for sure?”

“Tell me, have you seen any other people in here that don’t look like they’re on the verge of death?”

“...no.”

“Precisely. She and her brother didn’t blend in for a reason,” he quipped, “Hanji, let’s go.”

“Aye aye, Capt’n!”

It took a while, but once they’d found Isabel, it was fairly easy to track her. Now all that was left was to retrieve the MG. They chased her around for a solid ten minutes until their energy was getting low and she vanished behind the remains of a house.

“Okay,” Hanji drawled out, tipping her head to the side. “New plan. Ereeen! Speak to her for us!”

“Why should I?”

“Because it’s your gear she’s holding captive,” Levi deadpanned. After a long sigh of resignation, the brunet came forward.

“Hey, uh, miss? I’ll let you keep the gear,” Eren called out to grab her attention. Her head peeked around the corner of a building, her fiery red pigtails swishing.

“I don’t believe you.”

“But I promise! You just have to join the Survey Corps and you can come with us to the surface.”

She peered around further at the brunet, eyes narrowed to slits.

“And how do I know you’re not just bullshitting me?”

A grin grew on Eren’s face, knowing he’d won. He dropped the one weapon he had on him and stepped forwards, arms raised in surrender.

“If you think I’m lying, come kill me.”

No one moved or made a sound. Isabel pursed her lips, but it quickly altered into a mirrored version of Eren’s grin as she drew out one of the swords.

“Very well.” She bolted straight for the brunet, sword posed to strike. Erwin and Petra started in their direction, but Lev’s outstretched arm blocked their path. He shook his head at the two and glanced back at the duel. The blade stopped a centimeter from Eren’s throat and he didn’t even flinch. She visibly relaxed and called out for her brother.

Farlan dropped in out of nowhere, smiling widely at his sister and the brunet.

“You have our approval…” the boy told Farlan his name, “Eren. We’d be glad to join,” he grinned and tacked on, “With the guarantee of food and housing of course.”

Eren chortled, nodding his head in agreement.

“Welcome to the Survey Corps. You’ll be on our squad.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Petra says she’s logging out. I think I’m gonna follow her lead and head off to bed. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow,” Erwin said, bidding them adieu. He disappeared from the chat, along with Petra, not even a second later.

Hanji, Levi, and Eren slowly strolled through the halls, no one daring to break the silence yet. And only when they reached Hanji’s private quarters did it cease.

“I better get off of here. Long day tomorrow filled with charts and math,” she smiled, giving them a thumbs up.

“I don’t see how you stand that. Too many chemicals. Anyways, have fun at work, Hanj,” Levi wished her farewell with the old nickname he used to call her so many years ago. Her smile softened, relieved to know he didn’t completely resent her guts. She exited the chat after Eren said his ‘see you later’ and suddenly, they were by themselves.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” the brunet turned and nudged his avatar’s elbow with his own, but his eyes trained on the actual man’s ash-grey eyes.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” Levi pursed his lips skeptically. Eren merely rolled his own bi-colored eyes, latched his hand onto the other’s, and pressed his other hand to his forehead.

“We’re going to teleport.”

“Teleport? What the fuck? This is some B.C. game for fuck sake, how do you expect to… What the literal shit is that?” A golden luminescent sphere materialized in the palm of the boy’s hand, millions of codes swirling around inside and on the surface.

“Isn’t it neat? I don’t know how, but if I tap my forehead, this appears and it gives me some sort of control over the world,” he explained, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Come on, please? I’ve only tried this a couple times so I need to practice more.”

The man frowned but exhaled heavily with a drawled out, “Fine.”

True to his word, when Eren’s fingers shifted and twisted the sphere around like a puzzle, the virtual world began to distort around them until their castle gradually clicked into place. Eren grinned at the raise of Levi’s eyebrows while the orb dispersed into thousands of particles. He wasn’t going to bother hiding how fascinated he was. He even gave the brunet a slow round of applause.

“I’m guessing you’re gonna go now too?” the younger asked as they walked inside their home.

“Mm. I’ve got work tomorrow too. Plus a check up at the doctor’s office. I’ll be on a bit later than usual.”

“That’s fine. You’re coming back, though, right?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, I am.”

One of the corners of Eren’s lips lifted in a half smile, his hands stuffed in his back pockets. With each stride he took, his hands never left the curve of his ass. And that drove the man’s hormones insane.

_Stop it, Levi, that’s sick._

__

They each lie down in their beds- Eren’s in the divine virtual castle and Levis’ in a shitty apartment of reality. Levi zoomed in on the other’s face, wishing they weren’t in two different worlds. Wishing he could reach out and actually feel his tanned skin. Just wanting to trace light patterns across the dust of freckles on his nose.

“So, um, is this really how you look?” Eren piped up.

“Yeah. Not much difference.”

“So does that mean you’re this sho- uh- this tall in your world?” He received an eyeroll at the word mixup.

“Yes. Disappointed?”

“No no, not at all! You’re perfect!” he exclaimed shaking his head, then froze. He shot up into a sitting position, and his eyes widened once he’d really absorbed what he’d just said. “No, wait, that’s not what I meant! I-I meant- uh…that... fuck.” Levi’s expression didn’t change from it’s nonchalant stare, but Eren could definitely see a red tint across his cheeks that actually made him feel a bit relieved. “I’m sorry. I didn’t--”

“Shut up, chestnut. I get it,” Levi waved him off, foreseeing the kind of conversation that apology could lead to. A sappy one. And just the thought of it made him shudder.

 

As Eren lay back down, he decided to take a chance and ask one more thing.

“Hey, Levi?”

“Hm?”

“Will you tell me more about the world you live in?”

A rare warming smile spread across the raven’s face.

 **  
** “Sure thing,” he shut his eyes for the rest of the night, “Eren.”

All he heard after was the sound of the brunet's humming and the drone of the game system, serving as Eren's non-existant heartbeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Share your ideas of what you think will happen in the comments, I'm curious to know ^^


	5. Rewind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you guys I wasn't giving up on it ;)

 

     As soon as Levi got home from work and the doctor’s that afternoon, he kicked off his shoes and fed the little beast purring and rubbing at his feet before making his way to his bedroom to power on the game system. The warm cozy air was filled with the faint scent of lemons and peppermint-- the peppermint smell wafting from the hand soap and sanitizers he kept around the house.

    With nothing better to do, he had texted his ‘squad’ while at his doctor’s appointment. They’d discussed when they could all meet up again to go on more missions. Erwin and Hanji said they had too much work to get done, and Petra had apparently met some guy who she made plans to go on a date with. It looked like Levi would be alone for a few hours.

    After he transferred his beanbag from the corner of the room to the top of his bed, he flicked the light switch off and burrowed into the chair, making a nest out of it. The game’s loading screen was the only thing that kept his room dimly lit in case he needed to go to the bathroom or anything later.

 

_ **> Welcome! You must restart your system to continue. Restart now?** _

_**-** _

_ **> Yes, restart.** _

_**-** _

_**-** _

_ **Shutting down . . .** _

_**-** _

_**Welcome!**   **Loading . . .** _

 

_ **> New Game or Continue?** _

-

- 

  
 __ **> Continue:  
**  
        WingsOfFreedom

 

  
_ **> S t a r t** _

 

**Loading . . .**

 

    “Levi!”

    Levi winced as Eren’s voice attacked his ears, momentarily deafening him.

   “Well hi to you too.”

    “Hi,” Eren beamed at his avatar, “How did the doctor thing go? Are you alright? Are you sick? You look fine to me.”

    Levi rolled his eyes and switched on his webcam, “Yes, I’m fine, chestnut. And this is my real face, remember?” The brunet blinked up at the sky, his mouth forming the shape of an ‘o.’

    “Right. Yeah, sorry.”

    The raven slowly bobbed his head and decided to get down to business, “So, are you ready to gather supplies? We’re gonna stock up the castle.”

    Eren cocked his head at the man, a question on his tongue, “What about the others? Are we not going to go on a mission?”

    “Later, I guess,” he shrugged, “They’re all busy right now. It’ll be just us for a few hours.”

    “Oh, okay. That’s fine.”

    “Let’s get down to business then,” he said, pulling an ax out of his inventory and getting straight to work.

    He and Eren took their time gathering wood and tinder boxes, fishing, collecting ultra-hard steel for forging blades, and sneaking gas cylinders away from other players-- even despite Eren refusing to help because it was “cheating.”

 _“All’s not fair in gaming and war,_ ” had been Levi’s excuse. Eren had stayed silent as they continued to work.

 

* * *

 

    “Hey Eren--”

    “Hey Levi--”

    The pair began talking and stopped simultaneously as they tripped over each other's’ words. Conversation had been sparse for the past couple of hours, aside from the occasional “hey wanna see what I found?” and “do we need any more of these?” types of questions. They goofed off every once in awhile, taking time to explore the cities and let Eren show Levi around his hometown. That of which included his abandoned home that’d been left in shambles.

    Levi thought the place was alluring, in its own way. The earth had begun to knit vines across the rooftop and through the cracks of the structure’s stones. The windows looked like hollowed lifeless eyes, as if it’d experienced a tragedy.

    Only Eren broke the spell of long silence. He spoke quietly, a fond smile taking over his features, of the times he’d played in that front yard. The brunet brought up a handful of other memories before eventually going silent once again.

    When he and Eren began to leave, something in the middle of the short cobblestone walkway caught his eye. He took a brief moment to zoom in on the object, but zoomed back out once he’d made out what it was.

    He decided not to ask Eren about the random brown boot.

 

    Now, as they were finishing stacking up all their supplies in the castle, --because the game makers apparently thought having a simple inventory would be too easy for everyone, _god forbid_ \--- it was Eren’s turn to learn about Levi’s world.

    “So, where exactly do you live? In, uh, your world I mean,” he asked, side-eyeing Levi in the screen.

    “In the Northern part of the U.S.,” Levi deadpanned, “Know where that is?” Eren shook his head, earning a quiet sigh from the man. “Well, basically it’s a big ass piece of land with a fuck ton of people. And I, unfortunately, live in one of the most popular states-- California.”

    Eren’s eyebrows pull inwards, his focus dropping to the ground.

    “Cal...ifornia?”

    “Yeah. It’s the Golden State,” Levi said. A distant look grew in his eyes while his fingers gradually slid off of the controls. “Every year in the Spring, golden poppies bloom throughout the area and cover the fields. Aaand also my backyard,” he rolled his eyes and paused for a moment, “But... when I was a kid, my mother and I would walk to the fields together to pick flowers for the vases in the dining room. And every single time she’d insist we stay late to see the sunset, even though I really just wanted to go back home and play with our cat Nanaba.” A tight lipped smile tugged at the corners of his mouth before snapping back to reality. “Plus there’s the Golden Gate Bridge and shit as such.,” he waved a hand around, not really caring to go into anymore detail about it.

    There was a hint of a smile showing on Eren’s face when Levi finally refocused his attention to the screen.

    “Your mother sounds like a kind woman.”

    “Yeah,” Levi sighed, “Yeah, she was. She fell ill when I was nine years old. There wasn’t a single doctor who could diagnose her or had any advice that could help her. But that was nearly 15 years ago,” he shrugged, “So don’t go throwing a pity party for me, got it? Had enough of those in middle school.”

    “Yeah, got it,” Eren said and gave him a thumbs up.

    “Good. Is there anything else you wanna know?”

    Eren contemplated that for a fraction of a second before smiling widely.

    “Yes-- everything. I wanna know everything about you.”

     If Levi’s heart wasn’t beating like a drum before, it sure was now. He almost felt giddy. How long had it been since he’d felt anything like this?

     “Alright, well,” he drawled out as he thought what to speak of, “I have a fluffy black cat named Mochi. You may see her dart in here sometime. She’s an attention hoarder. Hmm.. I work with games as a beta tester and I have a side job at a computer repair store. I don’t really know what else to say about myself.”

    “Favorite food? Favorite color?”

     “Seafood and navy blue. Is this about to turn into a game of twenty questions?”

     “A game of twenty questions?”

     Levi snorted, forgetting that Eren wouldn’t know what Twenty Questions is.

     “Let me explain…”

 

* * *

  


    Levi and Eren had more or less finished sorting everything by the time his squad showed up. He was almost disappointed he couldn’t tell Eren more about his world now that they had business to take care of.

 

**Incoming Video Chat Request . . .**

 

**> Accept**

 

**> Decline**

 

    He tapped the ‘accept’ option.

    “‘Bout time you all got here,” Levi said, sitting up in the beanbag, careful not to disturb Mochi. Hanji shot back a playful retort that he paid no attention to, instead choosing to savor a long sip of his tea. “Say all you want about my “addiction to games,” but come look at the amount of shit we collected while you were off trying to melt your skin away in the lab.” The squad followed after him as he headed back into the castle and stopped in the middle of the den, beside a crouched Eren.

     Hanji and Erwin let out small noises of astonishment at their replenished stock.

    “How long did it take you guys to collect all this?” Erwin asked.

    Eren paused to look up at the blond, “About 4 hours?”

    The man’s eyebrows rose. “Have you even eaten today, Levi?” he asked with concern.

    “Yeah yeah yeah. I grabbed some lunch in between the doctor’s appointment and work.”

    “Oh yeah. The doctor’s. Is everything well?”

    Levi rolled his eyes. “Just peachy.” It looked like Erwin was about to inquire him further when a notification popped up. Levi was thankful for its timing.

 

**‘Incoming Report: It has been suspected that there is a spy among your fellow cadets. Find them and take them out.’**

 

    Hanji whooped, “Alrighty! So, you guys ready to start a new mission?” she asked as she accepted the mission without hearing their answer.

    “Hanji, we’re down a player. This is a high class mission. I know we’re one of the best teams in the game, but being shorthanded is going to make it even more difficult for all of us,” Erwin lightly scolded. Hanji was having none of it.

    “Oh c’mon, we got this. We’re _the_ best! We haven’t had that much difficulty completing missions, right? Aside from the little glitches, I mean.”

Levi huffed and shook his head.

    “Let’s just do it.”

    “There you go! That’s the spirit, shortstack!”

     Levi growled under his breath and switched off the volume for the chat. He was grateful he could still hear Eren without having to torture himself with Hanji’s cackling. Unfortunately for him, though, he’d forgotten about the text chat in the corner of the screen.

 

**Jumhanji: Noooooooo. Levvvvvviiiiiii come baaaaaaaack!**

**Jumhanji: Youre no fun**

 

**WingsOfFreedom: I never claimed to be a fun guy.**

**Jumhanji: Youre killing my vibe :(  Dont be a party pooper**

**WingsOfFreedom: That’s my specialty, though.**

**WingsOfFreedom: Now let’s start the damn mission already.**

  Levi turned the volume back on and thankfully, his eardrums were spared from the insane woman’s voice as she had gone to take a leak.

   In the meanwhile, he, Erwin, and Eren packed up the things they needed for the mission.

  “So, any ideas where we should start looking?” Levi asked his squad.

  "Well," Hanji drawled after she'd gotten settled back in her chair, "We could try the market place. It'd be easy for the person to slip through the crowds unnoticed."

  "Good point. We'll try there first."

  The four of them set out on their horses to find the nearest market in their area, and thankfully, it only took a couple of minutes of searching to spot one. It was rather densely populated with children running amuck, their parents busy conversing with dealers, and the elderly throwing curses at the young folk. Overall, it was peaceful.

  Eren suggested they leave their horses tied up behind a building or some place out of sight so that they wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb. Everyone dismounted and tied up the reins to a couple of trees that were just outside of the market. Levi went inside, through the gates, first to scope the area. The rest followed after once he gave them a thumbs up.

  Hanji nearly took off running as soon as she saw an assortment of weapons being sold. Luckily, Erwin blocked her path in time to bring her back to reality, but for the rest of the searchall she did was pout like a child that'd been told "no."

  Levi took to the rooftops, stalking along the edges so he could see out further, and everyone followed suit. They waited and waited and scanned every part of the market their eyes could reach but to no avail. The skies were beginning to fade to orange and pink as the day dwindled down to an end. For what felt like an eternity, but really had only been fifteen minutes or so, they saw a whole lot of nothing. His team was almost close to calling it quits when there was a sudden movement in the corner of Levi’s eye that' darted into an alley beside them.

  “Hey,” Erwin whispered into his microphone, “You guys see what I see?”

  “The tall sweaty guy looking like he’s doing a drug deal?” Hanji mused.

  “I don’t know about drug deal, but… yeah. He looks like he’s doing some sketchy stuff. Let’s keep an eye on him,” Levi said.

  They trailed after the tall dark haired boy for a few minutes until he finally met up with a blonde woman who was shrouded in a long black coat. A piece of paper and a dagger was passed between the two.

  “That’s gotta be him. Let’s take ‘em out,” Hanji said, ready to pounce.

  The four of them tackled the pair to the ground as soon as Erwin gave a short nod of his head. They weren’t prepared for the woman’s knife and combat skill, however.

  Before any of them could reach her, she’d snatched the dagger back from the tall man’s hands and sliced up Erwin’s torso and thrusted it deep into Hanji’s chest. Levi and Eren jumped back immediately as the other two frustratedly cursed. The two fallen comrades were on twenty levels of Done With This Shit™.

  “Welp, that’s it for me. I’ll be back. I’m going to cook dinner really quick. Good luck, guys,” Hanji said. Erwin sighed heavily and said he was going to go order pizza since he was down for the count too.

  “Let’s do a little one on one then. You take Big Bird over there and I’ll take on Barbie,” Levi ordered. Eren tipped his head and ran after his opponent who’d tried to take their moment of hesitancy to escape.

  Levi started towards the woman, but instead of attacking him like he thought she would, she took off in the direction Eren had gone.

_No._

   There was a distant grunt and scream. Levi forced his avatar to go as fast as it could down the alleyways. He was slowly catching up to the woman when he saw Eren’s knife driven through the man’s heart. Relief washed over him and left him like a wave crashing onto a seashore. For a fraction of a second, he’d thought it was over. That they’d completed the mission.

   Then the woman shouted, “Bert!” on the top of her lungs, growled, and lunged at Eren.

   “No! _Eren!_ ” Levi yelled into his mic and jerked around the controls a little too roughly. He was too late. Eren turned around to smile at Levi, but the dagger met his throat in an instant. Blood was everywhere. The dirt, the windows, the brick walls.

   Levi was paralyzed.

   And nearly instantaneously, Eren was gone. He completely disappeared. The blood and everything, like he’d never been there to begin with.

   Like everyone else he had cared for…

   His fingers went completely still on the controller while a flaming pool of absolute hatred seeped into his gut.

   Levi made his avatar bolt after Annie as she tried to retreat to the shadows. Unfortunately for her, he was too fast and too skilled. He drove his knife into her back repeatedly until her avatar was no longer there. And even then, he found it difficult to not continue jamming the button as if he were actually stabbing something.

   He took slow deep breaths to calm himself down.

   Then he realized that something wasn’t right. Why wasn’t Eren respawning? He didn’t even think Eren was actually capable of dying in the game. Running out of energy, that’s understandable, but dying? What was he supposed to do? Did he need to restart his system? Would that work for an AI? Or was he just… permanently gone?

   He needed to calm himself down and think rationally.

   Had Eren died once since they’d started playing? He couldn’t recall him dying, aside from the one time Levi had sliced up his titan and Eren had popped out… if you could even call that a death. Perhaps there was something in the game that’d bring him back. Like a chest stored in the castle or some sort of charm or a… a key.

   Levi hurriedly went into his inventory and selected the key Eren had given him when they’d first met and brought up the options for the item.

**> Drop**

**> Eat**

**> Trade**

**  
**

_Eat? Why would you eat a fucking key?_

  Sighing and shaking his head, Levi was at a loss for what to do now. It’d been nearly ten minutes since the mission had ended. The absence of Eren’s voice left only the eerie background melody playing and formed an unpleasant weight in his gut. He didn’t want to hear it anymore.

   After a hesitant moment, Levi gently set down the controller on the bed and held down the power button to restart it.

   He could only hope Eren would be there this time.

   A moment later, the main title screen appeared as usual, but there was something noticeably different in the graphics… He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Maybe lower quality? The lag?

**  
**

_ **Welcome! You must restart your system to continue. Restart now?** _

**-**

**-**

_ **> Yes, restart.** _

__

_ **Shutting down . . .** _

__

_ **Welcome!** _

_ _

_ **Loading . . .** _

_ **  
** _

   Then the screen went black.

_What the hell? Did it break?_

   Levi’s eyes squinted at the screen as if threatening it with just a gaze would work. He reached an arm out to power the system back on but stopped midway when the title screen returned.

**  
**

_** Welcome! You must restart your system to continue. Restart now?** _

_**  
** _

   Hadn’t he just gone through this? He released a long breath to dispel the annoyance grinding on his nerves.

 

_ ** > Yes, restart.** _

**-**

_ **Shutting down . . .** _

__

_**Welcome!**   _

_ _

_ **Loading . . .** _

_**  
**_ -

 

_ **> New Game or Continue?** _

 

 

_ **> Continue:** _

      WingsOfFreedom

 

_**> S t a r t** _

_**-** _

 

_**Loading . . .** _

**  
**

 

   Levi swore if he had a dollar for every time this game glitched, he’d have enough money to create his own damn game.

   At first, there was no sign of the bright eyed brunet and any hope Levi’d had was crushed. He was waiting for Eren’s cheery hello or for him to call out his name, but there was only the melodic theme music softly playing.

   Then the game’s screen glitched once more, and there Eren was, standing face to face with his avatar.

   “Eren?” Levi said, rotating the screen to get a better look at the boy. There was no expression, no hint of any emotion on his face. Levi had to repeat his name a couple more times before he got a response. The brunet slowly blinked.

   “Hey.”

   “Hey?” Levi huffed exasperatedly, “You go and get yourself eaten by a titan and disappear on me for twenty minutes just to come back with ‘ _hey_ ’?” Eren’s eyebrows knitted together as the corners of his mouth tugged downwards into a frown.

   “Huh?”

   “What do you mean ‘huh’? Has your ability to speak been screwed up?”

   Eren’s eyes narrowed at the man, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Levi. What's wrong with you?”

   Levi threw his hands in the air, dropping the controller in the process. Unbelievable. This kid has to be messing with him.

    He inhaled slowly, calming himself. He shouldn't be getting so worked up over a stupid video game. “I don't know. After Annie impaled you, I just-- I didn’t know what to do? You didn’t immediately respawn after the mission ended so I--”

   “Wait, wait. Levi. What are you _talking_ about?” Eren asked with furrowed eyebrows and a tilt to his head, “I’m perfectly fine. Why would Annie ‘impale me’? She’s on our side.” Levi stared at him incredulously. 

   “Eren, tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?”

   “A second ago, we were just in the castle, preparing to leave for… for a mission…,” his sentence ended up coming out sounding more like a question, “And now we’re suddenly in the middle of town. How in the…” Eren’s bi-colored eyes widened as his avatar flickered off and on screen. "We _did_ go on a mission... And Annie... Why can't I remember everything?" Eren met Levi's curious eyes.

   "I can't tell if this is a part of the game or not anymore," Levi shook his head with a dry laugh. He had an inkling there was something more to this game other than just characters with artificial intelligence and graphics. Eren seemed... too _real_. Or it could merely be Levi losing his grip on reality. That tended to happen when he became completely invested in a game. He knew it'd be best for him to take a break. Maybe spend a week or two offline. Make a friend. Go bowling and have fun. Levi snorted. What a ridiculous idea.

   Levi exhaled heavily, plucking the controller off the floor. He needed to stop taking things in games so seriously. 

   "Let's not worry about it," he told Eren. The brunett mimicked Levi's sigh and broke his own train of thought. His avatar returned to normal after a few moments.

   "Alright," he chirped with a wide toothy smile. A charming one that was all too fake for Levi's liking. He didn't mention it, however.

   "Let's go back to the castle and see what we're able to cook up and what kind of mini-games we can buy to keep you entertained, hmm?" he suggested. Eren's smile relaxed into a more genuine one at the idea. 

   "Buy me paper and chalk and I'm good to go," he laughed, telling Levi about his love for doodling as they took the slowest path to the castle.

   For as long as he could, he'd pretend everything was normal. And that everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I opened the doc for this chapter so many times. I'd write some of it then delete it and just do that over and over again. I finally put my foot down and made myself continue on. I don't know if I'll be able to force myself to update regularly, but I can damn well try lol. I love this story too much to give up on it. 
> 
> So until next time ♥


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